1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation detecting apparatus having a radiation detector for detecting radiation which has passed through a subject and converting the detected radiation into radiographic image information, a radiographic image capturing system having such a radiation detecting apparatus, and a radiographic image capturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the medical field, there have widely been used radiographic image capturing apparatus, which apply radiation to a subject and guide the radiation that has passed through the subject to a radiation conversion panel, which captures a radiographic image from the radiation. Known forms of the radiation conversion panel include a conventional radiation film for recording a radiographic image by way of exposure, and a stimulable phosphor panel for storing radiation energy representing a radiographic image in a phosphor and reproducing the radiographic image as stimulated light by applying stimulating light to the phosphor. The radiation film with the recorded radiographic image is supplied to a developing device to develop the radiographic image, or the stimulable phosphor panel is supplied to a reading device to read the radiographic image as a visible image.
In the operating room or the like, it is necessary to read and display a recorded radiographic image immediately from a radiation conversion panel after the radiographic image has been captured for the purpose of quickly and appropriately treating the patient. Patients such as infants, children, aged people, or those who cannot stand themselves for a long time due to illness or injuries also need to be imaged quickly. As a radiation conversion panel which meets such a requirement, there has been developed a direct-conversion-type radiation detector for converting radiation directly into electric signals or an indirect-conversion-type radiation detector for converting radiation into visible light with a scintillator and then converting the visible light into electric signals with a solid-state detector to read a detected radiographic image.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-170315 discloses that a battery for activating a radiation detector of a radiation detecting apparatus (electronic cassette) is contactlessly charged.
However, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-170315 does not propose a relationship between the image-capturing timing with respect to a subject and the timing of charging the battery by an external charging unit and/or between the timing of delivery of radiographic image information from the radiation detector and the timing of charging the battery by an external charging unit. Accordingly, if the battery is charged by the charging unit during image-capturing of the subject or during delivery of the radiographic image information, noise due to the charging may adversely affect the radiographic image information, thereby producing the radiographic image information that is not suitable for diagnosis based on interpretation of radiogram.